13 Great Wedding Tips to Save Money on Your Wedding

·         Cut your guest list down. You'll save in many areas, e.g. catering costs, wedding invitations,  place settings, etc. Yes I know some people will be disappointed they're not invited, but people are quite understanding nowadays.  I'm sure, as long as you explain they'll be fine. 

·         Why have your wedding on a Saturday.  Why not change to a Friday instead.  The added bonus is you have all day Saturday and/or Sunday to catch up with family and friends before going off  on your honeymoon. 

·         Honeymoon - keep an eye out for holiday specials before your wedding. 

·         Plan your wedding for off-peak season.  You'll be amazed at how much you will save in many areas, i.e. wedding venues.    

·         Shop in off -peak season for extra decor.  You can pick up pretty red or pink vases after Valentines Day or modern black after Halloween.

·         Hold the ceremony and reception at the same place.  Some suppliers charge by the hour so you'll make savings on travel time.

·         Flowers - use more greenery than flowers or look around your neighborhood,  or family and friends' gardens, see what you can find in their gardens.  Maybe stick to just one or two kinds of flowers. Buy flowers that are in season.  You can also include non-floral decorations, like lanterns.

·         Collect wines on special during the year before your wedding.  If you pick up two bottles of wine a week for a whole year, that's 52 bottles of wine.  Red wine is better as it matures, but white wine, make sure it's not too old.

·         Cakes - order a small one or two-tiered cake and then supplement cake with a larger sheet cake (hidden out the back).  Remember fruit cake can be more expensive than a banana or chocolate cake.

·         Reuse the wedding flowers to put on the cake table if you've got a small and simple cake.

·         Do your own wedding invites on the computer, or there are a lot of printing websites with specials all the time. Take advantage of these.

·         Make your cake part of the wedding favours.

·         Photographs - ask a few of your best friends to take photos for you, the more organized photos, and ask friends for copies of theirs after the wedding.  You may find them on Facebook later on anyway.

Wedding Reception

The wedding reception is something that most people really look forward to after the wedding ceremony has finished. Finding the perfect wedding reception locality is part of making your whole day successful.  Affordability is also something you have to take into consideration. Don't just rent any venue or hall without first checking it out and evaluating it properly. Make sure it's going to accommodate everybody well for the night /day. You wouldn't want people to feel crowded and making it uncomfortable to enjoy the event.

You will probably want to decorate for the wedding reception in advance. The decorating is usually  completed the night before the wedding ceremony by the wedding party. It could be after the wedding rehearsal dinner and ceremony have taken place. You'd want to use similar colours to your wedding as the main part of decorating. This can include ribbons, bows, flowers and various other types of decorations. Click here wedding decorations ideas.

Decorating the tables needs to be carefully looked at as well. Floral arrangements are often used as centrepieces.  Be careful they are not too tall though so as to block your view to the dance floor and of the wedding party. Putting nice decorations on the table as well as a nice gift or wedding favour for each guest is very popular. These mementos are a great way to thank them for coming.

Of course you serve food at a wedding reception so you will need to decide what you want to offer your guests. You can have something small like sandwiches or side dishes but the most popular wedding breakfast is a 2 course meal, main meal and dessert.  If you don't want a dessert, the wedding cake at the end of the night is suffice.  You can choose just about anything you like. But it all depends on cost, so cost per person is something you need to take into consideration when you are planning your wedding.
Drinks - may want to offer alcohol but it is fine if you do not want to. You should offer plenty of non- alcoholic beverages too for people who choose not to drink alcohol.
Wedding cake - yes of course you have to focus on the famous wedding cake because people will be waiting all night long to get a slice of it!

The wedding reception is a time to celebrate a new union between two people. While there is plenty of planning involved in it, try to have some fun with it. If you get too worried about the wedding reception you won't be able to relax and enjoy any of what is going on. 

 

Wedding Favours for a Romantic Wedding

 

A Wedding can be planned in a variety of different themes.  Weddings can have themes based on the seasons, on a holiday, on the beach, on science fiction, on a period of history or any other theme imaginable. However, the underlying theme of any wedding should always be love and romance. Even weddings which may not have a particular theme will likely convey the message of love and romance. This article will provide ideas for wedding favours which will help you to give your guests a reminder of your wedding which will help to invoke the feeling of love and romance. Whether you are planning a particularly romantic wedding or a wedding based on another theme you might want to consider giving favours which are related to romance.

Anything invoking a feeling of love will be an appropriate wedding favour for a romantic wedding. One great example is a silver picture frame with the word love inscribed into the silver. This is a very simple favour but it is also one which accurately conveys the message of love. Your guests may choose to put a picture of you and your partner in the frame to serve as a definite reminder of you and your wedding or they can use the picture frame in any way they  wish. However, if  they decide to use the frame, it will likely always remind them of your wedding. Each time they see the frame displayed in their home, they will fondly remember how much fun they had at your wedding.

Coasters can also be given as favours for a romantic wedding. This may not seem like a particularly romantic gift because it is more of a practical item but you can find ways to make this simple gift more romantic in nature. For example coasters can be purchased in a heart shape or in a design which reflects the theme of love and romance. A coaster displaying a picture of a bride and a groom is one way to do this. The coasters can also simply have the word love written on them or can be decorated with heart shapes to make them seem more romantic. There are even heart shaped coasters available which are designed specifically for wine glasses. These coasters are much smaller than average coasters and can create a very attractive appearance.

Books can also be an excellent idea for wedding favours for a romantic wedding. Again, this may sound as though it will not be particularly romantic because books are typically viewed as being very practical items. However, your choice of book can greatly influence whether or not it is appropriate for a favour at a romantic wedding. A book such as a book of love poems or quotations related to love would be very appropriate to give as favours at a romantic wedding. With a little creativity you may also find other books which are appropriate. For example if you and your partner are particularly fond of a certain classical romance novel you might consider giving each of your guests a copy of this book.

A CD filled with love songs is another great favour idea for a romantic wedding. You can download some of the love songs you and your partner enjoy or songs which you plan to feature at the wedding and put these songs on a CD for each of your guests. You may even want to decorate the CD cover with a portrait of the two of your or with another image which will invoke the message of love and romance. This is not only a romantic gift but it is also a gift which can be very inexpensive. Many savvy brides and grooms may even be able to create these CDs on their own with their home computer. However, even if they do not have the time or the resources to do this, it should be rather inexpensive for the couple to find someone to do this for them.

Wrapping Your Wedding Favours

For many couples one of the most tedious aspects of planning a wedding is wrapping the wedding favours. This is especially true if you are planning to have a large wedding reception with many guests in attendance. Wrapping wedding favours for hundreds of guests can be very time consuming. Therefore couples should plan on purchasing their wedding favours well in advance to avoid having to wrap the favours at the last minute. In general you would ideally want your favours to arrive 2-3 weeks before your wedding date to give you plenty of time to get them wrapped without feeling stressed. Orders involving personalisation should be ordered even earlier because these will take significantly longer to arrive. This article will offer a wide range of advice on wrapping wedding favours including advice on how to wrap favours and tips for making wrapping wedding favours a lot more fun.

Our first tip for wrapping wedding favours is to make sure you factor the cost of wrapping the gifts into your overall budget for wedding favours. This is important because it can add a significant amount to the cost of the favours. Most wedding favour distributors can ship the favours to you already wrapped but there is likely to be a costly fee for this service. It is far less expensive for the couple to wrap the gifts themselves. The most common theme for wrapping wedding favours includes wrapping the gifts in white and using ribbons the colour of the bridesmaids" dresses to adorn the wrapped packages. However, some couples opt for white ribbons for a more monochromatic appearance. Whichever way you decide to wrap your favours you should try to estimate the cost of wrapping supplies such as paper, tape and ribbons before you purchase the favours to ensure these costs will not put you over budget. This may influence the wedding favours you select because you may be more inclined to select favours which are smaller because they will require fewer additional resources to wrap.

Another tip for wrapping wedding favours is to not avoid this project until the night before the wedding. In the opening paragraph we stressed the importance of ordering your wedding favours early to avoid having to wrap them at the last minute. This is incredibly important because wrapping wedding favours can be very time consuming. If you leave it until the last minute you may find yourself staying up all night to try to get all of the favours wrapped and unfortunately may run out of time and not be able to wrap them all. We cannot urge you enough to purchase your favours ahead of time and wrap them as soon as they arrive. This way you can simply set them aside and will not have to worry about them again until it is time to get them to the reception location so they can be placed at each place setting.

Wrapping wedding favours is definitely not a fun project. It can be very time consuming and can also be incredibly tedious. One way to make the project easier is to enlist the help of friends or family members to help you. If you get together a group of 3-4 of your friends you will find the task of wrapping the wedding favours is accomplished in much less time than it would take you to wrap them yourself. You will also have a great deal more fun because you will be spending time with your friends as you wrap the wedding favours.  

Our last tip for wrapping wedding favours is to keep the wrapping very simple.   You may have ideas about complex wrapping techniques and elaborate ribbons, but this can make the task of wrapping the wedding favours very difficult.   If you spend a great deal of time tying elaborate ribbons it would not make sense to stack the wrapped favours in a box where the ribbons will become crushed.   You would have to find a space big enough to lay each favour out flat.   This can be very difficult and even if you are able to do it, it will likely cause some inconvenience.  Therefore we recommend simpler methods of wrapping and decorating your wedding favours.

Wedding Favour Ideas